SYDNEY - Australian cricketer Phillip Hughes died Thursday from a catastrophic injury to his head, two days after being struck by a delivery during a match.
Cheap Cardinals Jerseys .Australia captain Michael Clarke, trying to compose himself several times, read a brief statement
on behalf of Hughes parents, brother and sister at a news conference at St.
Vincents Hospital that was broadcast live around Australia.Were devastated by
the loss of our much-loved son and brother Phillip. Cricket was Phillips life,
and we as a family shared that love of the game with him ... We love you, Clarke
read, holding back tears before leaving the room.Hughes was wearing a helmet
Tuesday when he was hit after attempting to hook a short-pitch ball from New
South Wales fast bowler Sean Abbott.Dr. Tony Grabs, a surgeon and director of
trauma services who treated Hughes at St. Vincents, said the 25-year-old
cricketer had died from a rare injury — there have been only 100 documented
cases of vertebral artery dissection — which resulted in severe bleeding on his
brain.We did a CAT scan of the head to determine what we could do, Grabs said.
This occurred very early and it was recognized we had to make an intervention to
help get the pressure down in the brain. He had extensive surgery to remove some
of the skull from around his brain to help allow the brain to expand so it wasnt
compressed.Australian team doctor Peter Brukner said Hughes recovery did not go
as hoped.Over a period of the first 24 to 48 hours he did not make very much
improvement and unfortunately, as a consequence of the injury, he died, Brukner
said.Cricket Australia chief executive James Sutherland said Hughes was
immensely talented and dearly loved: Without doubt, he was a rising star whose
best cricket was still ahead of him.The word tragedy gets used too often in
sport, but this freak accident is real life tragedy, Sutherland said. Just days
short of his 26th birthday, Phillip has been taken away from us too soon. He
will forever be remembered as one of the elite few to have worn the baggy green
cap, cap number 408.Also at the news conference, doctors said Hughes was in the
care of two specialist doctors before an ambulance and paramedics arrived at the
Sydney Cricket Ground, making their delayed response less relevant, Brukner
said. It took two phone calls and 15 minutes for an ambulance to get to an
unconscious Hughes.I think ambulance waiting time is really more relevant when
the injured person is not being treated, Brukner said. I think by any standard
or observation, he was receiving excellent quality treatment. Hence, he arrived
at the hospital in excellent condition.Brukner announced the death earlier
Thursday in a statement, saying Hughes never regained consciousness. The
statement was issued shortly after Australian opener David Warner, one of the
first players to help Hughes when he collapsed on the field, had left the
hospital in tears.Hughes mother and sister were at the match when he was he was
hurt, and kept vigil at the hospital. Clarke, a close friend, was among dozens
of former and current teammates and stars of the game who visited the hospital
to offer their support.Prime Minister Tony Abbott described Hughes as a young
man living out his dream, adding its a very sad day for cricket and a
heartbreaking day for his family.Messages of support poured in from all around
the world after Hughes stumbled, leaned over and then collapsed after being hit
behind the left ear when he mis-timed a short-pitch delivery while batting for
South Australia against New South Wales in a Sheffield Shield match.Deaths are
rare in cricket, although Hughes is the second player in two years to sustain a
fatal blow.Darryn Randall, who was 32 and a former first-class player in South
Africa, was killed after being struck on the side of the head during a Border
Cricket Board Premier League match in the Eastern Cape last year.At the
Australian Open golf tournament not far from St. Vincents, a large gallery
following Adam Scott heard of Hughes death and some wiped tears from their
eyes.Hughes played 26 test matches for Australia after making his debut in 2009,
but despite a sparkling start to his international career at 19, he was not able
to earn a regular spot in the starting lineup.After making 75 in his first test
innings against South Africa in Johannesburg, he posted centuries in each
innings of his second test, becoming the youngest player ever to do that in test
cricket. But he struggled on the subsequent tour of England and was in and out
of the Australian team four more times. He was on the verge of another test
recall when he was fatally struck.The injury sparked debate about short-pitch
bowling in the game.Bouncers, where a fast bowler aims to push the batsman back
toward the stumps with a ball that lands halfway down the pitch and rears up
above chest or head height, are still a regular and acceptable part of the
game.The International Cricket Council revised its laws on short-pitch bowling
in the early 1990s, putting restrictions on the number of short-pitch balls
allowed per over to stamp out bowlers merely using the delivery to intimidate
batsmen.Sutherland said Sean Abbott was being counselled, had visited Hughes in
the hospital and had been consoled by Clarke and members of Hughes family.___AP
Sports Writer John Pye in Brisbane, Australia, contributed to this story.
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